[PATCH RFT] b43: We need lots of regression testing

[Michael Buesch <mb@bu3sch.de>]

Hi b43 users,

Please be so kind to run lots of regression tests on the following
patch. This patch is supposed to make the LO calibration a _lot_ more
lightweight and avoid a long MAC-disable period every 120 seconds.

We need a lot of regression testing with this patch on lots of different
devices to make sure we don't introduce regressions.

I tested this on a 4306 and a 4318 card. So far it seems to work great
on these cards.

Thanks.


----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: Re: b43: 1 second "freeze" every 2 minutes - works with bcm43xx
Date: Friday 04 April 2008
From: Michael Buesch <mb@bu3sch.de>

Can you try the following patch?
http://bu3sch.de/patches/wireless-testing/20080404-1408/patches/010-b43-calibrate-lo-on-demand.patch

This patch is supposed to distribute the calibration bursts over time,
so that calibration only happens when it's actually needed.
So instead of disabling the MAC every 120 secs and recalibrating the
whole calibration tables, we assign a timeout to each calibration value
and only recalibrate it if it's
a) expired and
b) currently used.
Recalibration might also happen on TX power adjustment, if the corresponding
calibration item is no longer in the cache because it has expired. That
actually happens most of the time, but we can live with it, as power adjustment
doesn't happen that often and calibration is a _lot_ cheaper.

This patch also reduced overall memory consumption by nuking the
huge static calibration tables.

Disclaimer:
The algorithms in this patch are completely redesigned and have nothing in
common with how broadcom does the stuff in the proprietary driver. So it's
highly experimental and I'm not responsible in case this patch eats your cat.

-------------------------------------------------------

-- 
Greetings Michael.